Half a year ago, in early 2019, we decided to volunteer in Nepal by teaching English for five weeks. Even though the choice for the small landlocked country, nestled in the lap of the gigantic Himalayan Range, was random – neither one of us had been there before – we have come to love it. This is for a large part thanks to our wonderful volunteering experience at the Karma Samtenling Monastery, a small monastery near the famous Swayambu temple. We were placed at this site through Volunteering Initiative Nepal, an NGO that aims to empower marginalized communities.
Over the last five weeks, we have had the pleasure of teaching some seventy young Buddhist monks, starting from nursery up until class 3, ages four to fifteen. Every morning we were greeted by a resounding “Good morning Miss,” or a loud “Good morning Mister,”, that echoed out of every boy in the room. Despite their varying levels of English proficiency, all of the young monks were enthusiastic, playful and eager to learn. We each taught two one-hour classes in the morning, followed by a very traditional lunch: Dal Bhat.
The classes were very hands-on as there were very limited teaching materials present. The kids throughly enjoyed playing educational games, such as hangman and Pictionary, and watching movies like Madagascar or Harry Potter. Flexibility and patience have been key in making this experience as successful as possible.
Even though we were teaching for just five weeks, we believe that we have made an impact. The kids have improved their English, which will result in a valuable skill in their immediate future.
Thank you, VIN for your help and support during this experience!
Kind regards,
Birger and Diana
Member of